We took the day after our trip to the Albufera Park and relaxed at home and started packing and organizing for our trip to Italy on Friday and Jocelyn for her trip home.  We are trying to eat up all of our leftovers so our meals have been a bit unusual but still healthy and delicious – as delicious as leftover pizza from the night before and Ritz crackers for breakfast can be. We did go for an evening stroll, though, and found many stores opened that had never been during our day walks through the neighborhood.  It was a wonderful, warm evening for walking.  Men at the seniors center were out playing a type of bocci ball from what we could make of it, kids were running and playing in the park and people were shopping, dragging their wheeled carts behind them. Many little pubs and cafes offered their tapas for sale and people sat on the outside chairs enjoying a light snack. We found a cozy little pizza place and enjoyed a delicious pizza and drinks for a reasonable price – hence the leftover pizza.

One evening I got the bright idea to see if there was an IKEA store in town and to my surprise there was!  Jocelyn spent a good deal of time on the internet trying to find out where it was (our map didn’t show that area) and how to get to it by bus.  The store just opened in June and she was determined to go to it.  She IS persistent if nothing else.  Anyhow, she figured it out and we left after lunch for our IKEA outing.  Riding our trusty #73 to downtown, we got off to where she thought the next bus should be but no sign of it.  We tried a different location and finally I said I would go to the little linen shop down the street and see if anyone spoke English and could help us.  We found a delightful young lady who spoke a bit of English enough to figure out the word IKEA and bus and she went out on the sidewalk with us to point us in the right direction and what bus to take.  Off we went.  We had bought more bus tickets in the morning so we would have enough for the day but when we got on the IKEA bus – a special one to take us there – the driver wouldn’t accept our tickets and we had to pay cash.  Just another story in our long line of bus and metro stories.

After about a half hour on the bus, we finally arrived.  What a grand store.  It towered upwards instead of outwards as our stores in Canada do. There weren’t many cars in the parking lot but once we got closer we could see a huge underground parkade that was packed with cars.  Inside we were faced with two long escalators to take us to the first shopping floor.  We followed the arrows around and around and I snapped a few pictures to remind me of some good ideas for my new place when I get it. The restaurant was huge and we couldn’t even see it all.  I think most people that were parked underground were in the restaurant as the store was not busy at all.  You all know the huge shopping bags that IKEA has available to shop with.  Valencia’s store has those bags but with an added feature – wheels!  Such an improvement.  They also have the cutest little buggies with a place to put a child and a place to hang that huge bag.

We spent some time there which was exciting to Jocelyn and I but I don’t think Joey was impressed as she’s not a shopper and really had nothing to shop for.  Jocelyn, on the other hand, bought quite a few things and I was just looking for ideas.  Joey was a good sport, though, and trudged around the store with us. A very long turdge!

Shopping makes a girl hungry!!!!

With our purchases in hand, we hopped on the same IKEA bus with a different driver.  Every bus driver we’ve had has the personality of lint – actually, lint has more.  They must be trained to not smile and take lessons in huffing and arm waving 101. Reaching the Old Town once again, Jocelyn set off for more shopping while Joey and I sat in the park and people watched and I played around with my camera and the slow motion feature. Quite fun.  Supper time found us wandering the streets for something that looked good to all of us.  We settled on a place, walked through the door, were seated and given menus and we were all shocked.  The smell was horrendous!  Sewer smell enveloped the whole place.  Disgusting.  We all looked at each other and knew we were all thinking the same thing.  Let’s get the heck out of here!  We left faster than we arrived and continued our search.  We found a hamburger place that we had all wanted to try at some point before we left but found out we couldn’t eat outside and we all wanted to do that so off we went again. We settled on an Italian place in the middle of a promenade where we could sit outside and watch people while enjoying a delicious pasta meal and where only good smells surrounded us. It was a super last evening and it was all on Jocelyn.  She was happy that we “allowed” her to join us for two weeks and wanted to say thanks by treating us to dinner.  It was our pleasure to have her and thank YOU, Jocelyn.

We thought it might be nice to go back to the Oceanographic and Science Centre to see it all lit up at night so we found our way there – sort of!  We missed our bus stop and the next one was too far to walk back so we took a long bus ride through another part of the city we hadn’t yet seen.  I wondered how many miles we had put on various buses throughout the month.  We did a lot of travelling for little money for sure.  The bus turned the corner at one point in the trip and came to a dead halt.  A car was parked in the middle of the road and we couldn’t get around it in the narrow street with cars parked on both sides.  He laid on his horn, over and over.  People came from all over to see what the commotion was all about.  Cars lined up behind us and began honking , also. Some of the men tried pushing the car but no go.  Others checked to see if the keys were in it.  Nope. All this time the driver kept honking. Finally , after about 10 minutes of this, a woman came along, had some loud words with our driver, got into her car and drove off.  Yet another bus story to write about.  I could write a book!

We got off at the right stop and headed across the street to a big mall that we hadn’t been to with a large upstairs balcony that we thought might be a good viewing place to take some pictures.  We all thought everything would be lit up beautifully but what a disappointment.  I snapped a few pictures and got another pano but that was it.  Back on the bus for us.  Another bus story you might ask?  But of course!

We usually get on the #95 bus that takes us home on the north side of the road but Jocelyn said, “Let’s catch it on the other side as it must just make a quick turn around up ahead and we won’t have to cross the busy street”.  Sounded like a good plan at the time.  We drove through the empty streets winding through narrow streets turning at almost every corner.  At one point, the driver asked when we were getting off as we were his only three remaining passengers.  Surely he wouldn’t dump us in the middle of nowhere at this time of night!  Jocelyn showed him the map and where we were going and he didn’t seem happy that he had to take us.  It was a long way and we think his shift was over but he had to take us. Over a half  hour later we arrived at the same spot we had just gotten on and still had a long way to go.  He rushed through the streets at breakneck speeds almost cutting off a car at one point.  His arms flailed and he yelled at the other driver then proceeded to yell mostly to himself.  We arrived at a spot where drivers on this schedule take a five-minute break.  When we got there, our driver got on his phone and was yelling into it with arms waving, a very angry man.  He slammed his little cage door and told us to get out and take the bus that had just pulled up behind us.  We did as we were told.  The new bus had a handle on it beside our seat that looked like someone had gnawed at it.  We thought it must have been someone who was starving after riding the bus for as long as we had. What a night filled with adventure. We were glad to be home.